The Blue Association

Rochdale have decided to break their link with parent club Tottenham, in favour for a more productive parent club link with Tottenham's across-the-town rivals Chelsea FC. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy commented on this bizarre incident, "I feel like we've been stabbed in the back to be honest. Rochdale are a rising club which their manager [Justin Credible] has proved over the past three seasons, and for him to break this strong link between these two clubs is a shameful and cowardly act. Moreover, after they broke the link just so they could become the feeder club of our rivals Chelsea FC. It's obvious they were offering them lots more money per year than we were, but if I was in Credible's position I would have respected the link between Spurs and The Dale. It's very disrespectful."

Rochdale chairman Chris Dunphy, flanked with manager Justin Credible, captain Rhys Bennett and coaches David Beckham and Andrew Cole were invited to a press conference in Manchester this morning. Chris Dunphy was able to comment on the whole situation himself, "I think we've done the right thing here. I fully respect Tottenham for the support they provided us but we as a club feel like it's time to move onto bigger and better things. You have to look at the bigger picture when running a football club and having said that, we felt like the link-up with Tottenham wasn't benefiting us in any way, shape or form. However, the proposal from Chelsea was much bigger than the link we had with Spurs, and Chelsea offered us almost twice the amount of money Tottenham had offered us also bundled with the treasure of loaning better players than Tottenham. Now look at the information I've provided and think for yourselves."

Credible's Rochdale lie 1st place in the Championship and are doing far well than what anyone had expected of them. They were initially tipped to be relegation candidates, and many have been forced to re-think their opinions of Rochdale this season. José Mourinho's Chelsea lie in 6th place with 30 points from 19 games, whereas Rochdale's former parent club Tottenham Hotspur (managed by Michael Laudrup) lie in 1st place with 42 points from 19 games, 5 points clear from Arsenal in second place.

December Update

This has been our worst month in the Championship this season, but it's awesome despite whatever happened. We lie at the top of the table, but Nottingham Forest have got THREE games in hand. It's obvious they'll overtake us:

Transfers

IN

CA:
PA:

I managed to secure this young player's services in a deal worth £350k after he impressed on a trial. It will go through after quite a bit of time however, but he will be ready for the first team when he arrives.

Leeds United 3-1 Rochdale AFC (A)

Match ReviewWe were a bit nervous to begin with, and our old man Alfie scored from the spot to make things worse. The most frustrating thing was we couldn't hold on to the one point we could have got, and surrendered two late goals in the last seven minutes of play.

Rochdale AFC 0-1 Q.P.R (H)

Sky Bet Championship

Charlie Austin (63')

Alejandro Faurlin (Q.P.R) -- 9.2

Match ReviewThis was understandably a very poor match for us. QPR were fighting to stay alive in the Championship, whereas we were fighting for promotion... and we dropped all three points in the second half. Very, very poor stuff from Rochdale.

Rochdale AFC 2-0 Brighton (H)

Sky Bet Championship

Brian Graham (52')Scott Hogan (87')

Brian Graham (Rochdale) -- 8.0

Match Review After back to back defeats in the league, we finally bounced back with a 2-0 victory over mid-table Brighton. Could this be the turnaround?

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Rochdale AFC (A)

Sky Bet Championship

Steven Poole (67')

Steven Poole (Rochdale) -- 7.2

Match Review Another good win over a big team. We totally outclassed Wolverhampton on hostile soil, finally gaining revenge over what happened in our first match this season, even if it was a little 1-0 victory.

West Ham 1-0 Rochdale AFC (A)

Sky Bet Championship

Billy McKay (53')

Shane Alexander (Rochdale) -- 7.4

Match Review We got sent back to the ground with this defeat. We played well in the match, and the stats will agree. We could have won this match easily had it not been for the goalposts.

Rochdale AFC 1-1 MK Dons (H)

Sky Bet Championship

Medo (5') Paul Cairney (46')

David Martin (MK Dons) -- 7.2

Match ReviewThis was a very poor result and we should be looking to move onto better results sooner or later, before the title slips out of our hands...

Player of the Month

Luke O'Neill has been playing superbly over the past few games, and has even contributed to two assists and last month he scored a wonderful goal where he chipped it over the keeper. He thoroughly deserves this award due to his wonderful perfomances on the pitch.

Here are the fixtures for next month:

Author's Notes

First place is as good as Nottingham's, but that's only if they win at least one of their three games in hand, which is highly likely they will. However, the season isn't over yet and we may just managed to creep back up to first place should we slip down, let's hope we can do it!

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